The Alumni
by Gumdrop Boo
Summary: [Wayside School] You have to move on to higher education someday. The 28 kids who went to Wayside are now about to graduate high school. It hasn't been the same since Wayside, all of them have changed but what will it take to rediscover their wacky selves
1. Prologue

The dead rat problem was getting to be problem. The teachers and the students of Wayside school complained too much. There was an all around fear to enter the basement. Then dead rats started showing up in the cafeteria. Students were even more terrified when they realized Miss Mush had been using the excess deceased rodents as the main ingredient in the meat loaf. Many kids went home sick. Some never returned after that. This all happened after Mrs. Jewels' class moved on. Nora Jewels wasn't the biggest fan of dead rats. In fact she hated them with a royal passion.

She was sitting at her desk like any other day, grading spelling homework. Then, from across the room she saw it. A dead rat!  
"I'm sick and tired of this!" she screamed and slammed her hands on her desk. She was glad that the original class that she had loved so much had graduated to higher education, although one couldn't get higher than a thirty story learning center.

Mrs. Jewels pointed her finger condemningly at the dead rat on the other side of the room. 'Fine you monster! I see how it is. It's either me or you this time!" she stepped out from behind the desk and glared at it. It didn't move. She twitched her eye a little. She didn't want to lose. After a minute or two she sighed.

"I quit." And with that Mrs. Nora Jewels ran out of the school sobbing her eyes out.

Mr. Kidswatter had become aware of the travesty. He called in terminators. They couldn't find anything wrong. All the rats were dead so they thought it was effective. Mr. Kidswatter, the principal decided he was tired of running a mouse-infested school.

He, later that day, released a statement that wayside was being closed forever. He really wanted to take a vacation in Tahiti.

Louis, the yard teacher was very sad at this news. He never had any problem with the dead rats, well he worked outside and the dead rats liked the indoors. Especially the basement.

All the teachers were laid off. Even Ms. Zarves. There is no Ms. Zarves but they laid her off just in case.

"NO! I won't leave!" cried Miss Mush. She held onto the kitchen stove as some teachers tried prying her away.

"Com'on MUSH! Wayside has ended!" they said.

"I refuse!" she cried, "Besides my chili won't be edible till' next year! Who will eat it if the school is closed!?"

All the students were relocated to normal schools. All the teachers found new jobs. Indeed it was the end for that tall building called 'Wayside.'


	2. Missing piece of the puzzle

A/N- I don't own ANY of these characters, Louis Sachar does.

Now one has to wonder about the original class of Mrs. Jewels. We know that they were a bit different than most kids. They had their distinguishable quirks. Once they entered junior high, they were hit with a bad dose of reality. Children don't get turned into apples, hobos are not meant for show and tell, there are no 'goozaks', and knitting isn't a core class.

The poor alumni of Wayside had no idea. The rest of the world was just plain weird. But then it slowly sank into their heads that they were the weird ones. They realized how weird everyone from Wayside was. So they disconnected from their weird classmates, not knowing they were weird themselves. Tjey were in self-denial about their weirdness. And we all know that no one wants a 'weirdo' for a friend in junior high.

Bebe wasn't friends was Calvin. Allison wasn't friends with Rondi. D.J wasn't friends with Myron. Stephen wasn't friends with Dameon. Joe wasn't friends with John. Dana wasn't friends with Jenny. Maurecia wasn't friends with Joy. Kathy had no friends like always.

Todd…Todd was gone. His parents thought he was a bad kid for getting sent home everyday on the kindergarten bus his entire elementary life. It wasn't Todd's fault; he just got caught all the time. Todd was sent to military school.

It was the last year. _THE_ last year. Seniors. Where had the time gone? It ran away. DeeDee tried catching it once in 7th grade but it was too fast for her.

The worst thing was that everyone was changed.

Mac never wanted to tell elaborate stories, Kathy was considered the nicest person in 12th grade, Dameon never had crushes on his teachers, Sharie was awake most of the time, and Joy was honest.

Maurecia sat alone like her former classmates. Treated like a hermit, a leper? Maurecia was far from looking like a leper. She had long, silky black hair that became wavy at the ends. She lost the taste for ice cream years ago. She liked carrots now.

She sat alone on a bench outside of school. Chomping on a carrot. Joy walked by. They didn't see each other or rather pretended not too. Joy had shoulder-length chestnut-brown hair pulled back by a headband. She wore a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Her eyes shifted around.

Calvin was sitting across the way, stretching his limbs. He'd grown into a handsome kid. He was on the rowing team. Bebe was not far off; she had dyed her hair jet black and cut it into an artsy style. She had a blank sketchpad in her lap. She stared at Calvin while he stretched. She looked at the small potato tattoo on his ankle.

Dameon was nearby too. He scuffed the toe of his Reebok into the sidewalk in bored manner, with his back up against the wall. Dameon was the second-most handsomest guy in high school. His dark hair curled over his ears and curved out over his eyebrows. He never smiled though. None of them smiled really.

Maurecia watched Joy watch Bebe watching Calvin. A car pulled into the school parking lot. It was a classic. Calvin stopped stretching looked at it curiously.

A boy came out of the driver's seat. Suddenly it was a fact that Dameon Larsen was the third-handsomest boy at school.

The mysterious boy had smoothed out strawberry blonde hair over his left eye. His hair was fluffed in the back. He wore a fitting band t-shirt over a collared shirt. His waist was small and he fitted nicely into his pants. His nice, tight, pants. He wore aviator sunglasses over his eyes. He started walking towards the school.

Maurecia and Joy couldn't breath. Bebe looked in wonder. Calvin kept looking at the car. Dameon became suspicious; He felt as if he knew this boy.

Stephen skated up behind the new kid on his skateboard. Stephen was a skater. He jumped off his board and stepped on it, it jumped into his arm. Stephen, unlike the rest was not afraid to question.

"Hey kid. Who are you?"

The mysterious guy turned around and smiled.

"What are you staring at punk?" Stephen demanded. He'd been bullied too much in junior high for his green hair so he had no choice but to become a bully.

New guy simply smiled and saluted Stephen. Stephen was bewildered.

"Who is HE?" Maurecia couldn't take it any longer and hissed the question at Joy.

"I…I don't know," she wasn't even phased that her old friend was on speaking terms again. All they could do was wonder about the new guy.

He entered the building. The students outside followed him in.

Mac was by his locker and saw all the ex-wayside kids following a new kid. He raised his eyebrows in question at Calvin. Calvin shrugged.

Allison was nearby also and became curious as to who he was.

He walked through the halls catching the eyes of everyone. Well, everyone that is who went to Wayside. 'Weird only notice the weird,' they say.

"I'm tired of your silence, tell us who you are!" Stephen grabbed the kid by the back of his t-shirt and whirled him around. The girls gasped in the rough treatment.

The guy smiled. His smile comforted everyone. But no one let his or her guard down to actually smile. He reached for his aviators, slid them down his nose and looked up at Stephen.

"Your hair is still green," he said.

Stephen shoved the kid away like he was poison. "What do you mean by that!?"

The guy did a 360º turn to look at everyone. His eyes landed on Kathy. "You were always mean."

Kathy glowered. The guy spotted D.J. and smiled wide, "D.J, you used to have a smile that could light up the school!"

D.J.'s stone face broke into a grin.

"How do you know this?" screamed Maurecia, who couldn't take the mystery any longer.

He smiled kindly, folded his aviators and slipped them in his pocket. "Do you still like ice cream?"

"No, I haven't had it in years…" she answered apprehensively.

His handsome face crashed into disappointment. "Oh, but Maurecia, I was your favorite flavor."

Maurecia gasped and took a few steps back, getting all of him in view. She could see him now. That made her get goose bumps.

Joy, who had the biggest mouth, was the first to actually say it.

"TODD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????????"

There was a unanimous gasp from all who hadn't remembered Maurecia's favorite flavor.

"OOH OOOh Todd I thought you were dead!" Mac grunted.

"You've been gone…." Joe thought and counted on his all his toes, "six years!"

"Yeah man, we missed you," Paul added.

"Welcome back, ya jerk!" Kathy huffed and marched away.

Maurecia watched amazed as all her former classmates transformed into their old-selves. Todd was back. He was the missing piece. She felt a smile tear at her lips, and then she had a monstrous craving for ice cream.


	3. The tale of Todd

Todd was a hot commodity instantly, all 27 former Wayside Students were gathered around him, eagerly waiting to hear about him.

Todd was always the nicest kid in Mrs. Jewel's class, even if he was always sent home before lunch.

Maurecia bought a giant bowl of ice cream for lunch and sat down to listen to Todd's explanations. She had five flavors, none of them were him though.

"Why did you come back, you hack?" Terrance asked. Terrance was a baseball player for the school and he had on a baseball cap.

Todd sat down on top of the lunch table next to Rondi, she giggled because Todd was a hottie.

"I have been at military school for the last five and a half years. I hated it," Todd said.

"You look emo," noticed Joy. Joy had developed an odd wardrobe and looked like a bohemian. She knew what wardrobes were which. Todd's tight girl pants gave away the emo-ness.

"Well, that's because I refused to conform to crew cuts and combat boots. Anyway, I practiced not getting caught until one day I never did get caught. I waited for a long time to get caught but it never happened. That's when I realized I could come back." He explained.

"What did you do?" Maurecia asked but was interrupted by Joy.

"So why haven't _you_ changed??"

Todd, with his perfectly blue eyes stared in dismay at them all, realizing they did change in his absence. "I…kept thinking about all of you and how much fun I would have when I saw you all again."

Everyone was touched. They decided to change back just for Todd. Mostly anyways. There are just some things you can't change, like hormones.

"_Todd is such a hottie!" _Rondi giggled in her thoughts.

"_Woah, take me home with you Todd!" _ Joy sighed in her brain.

"_Todd turned into a hunka-burning-love!"_ Dana mused in her mind.

"_I wonder if they have any 'Todd' flavored ice cream?"_ _"_wondered Maurecia licking her spoon dreamily.

"_Ooh-la-la I think I heart Todd"_ Leslie grinned in her noggin while tying her hair into braided pigtails. Benjamin Nushmutt, surprisingly had held the 'hottest' guy in school record until Todd stepped out of his classic car. Benjamin liked his title, and again there are some things you can't change. Especially jealousy.

Benjamin was the stereotypical, kid in the library that was bit mysterious but oh so hot. He was everyone's advice whore also. The girl's liked him for his advise. He couldn't turn down a girl for advice. That is, if any girl would ask him. Todd seemed to be too similar to what Benjamin did.

Dameon had been the second-hottest guy in school until Todd returned. Dameon was a gorgeous track star. Dameon didn't mind though. Benjamin did.

"Todd, how did you get out of military school?" Benjamin demanded.

"I told you, I can get away with things now," he shrugged.

"What did you do?" Maurecia asked again.

"The kids at this school will hate you, they hate all of us. They seem to have it out for ex-Wayside students" Benjamin said, maybe to scare Todd away.

Todd shrugged again, "Well, we have each other."

That touched everyone too. Todd was good at touching people.

"Get your hand off my shoulder!" Maurecia said to Paul.

Paul was trying to get closer to something but not Todd.

Leslie was right across from them, she was a pretty girl of seventeen with luscious, dark brown, hair….in pigtails.

"I…." Paul said, not taking his eyes off Leslie.

It seemed as if no one, before Todd came, had even glanced at any other ex-acquaintance or friend from Wayside.

Paul was achin' to tug a tail.

Leslie finally noticed Paul. She raised her eyebrow but then turned her attention back to Todd. Everyone liked Todd. Benjamin was jealous of Todd.

Finally Paul grabbed.

"OOOOOOOOOW!, What the HELL, PAUL!?" Leslie shrieked. Everyone backed away because Leslie had a loud shriek.

"I! Snake!" Paul said startled and jerked away.

They looked around feverishly for any slithering objects. There were no real snakes. You see, Paul had been hypnotized long ago that whenever he would pull Leslie's pigtails that they would turn into rattlesnakes. He was also hypnotized to lick Leslie's ear whenever she said 'pencil' but that'll come into play later.


	4. Plan to cause trouble

Now, Benjamin Nushmutt is not a mean fellow. In fact he is very respected. He can use his dark, broodiness to win anyone over.

"Psst, Daemon," he whispered as they were walking to their gym class.

"What's up Nushmutt?" Dameon came to his side curiously.

"You were the second hottest guy in school, until Todd came right?"

"Well…yeah," Daemon nodded, confused where Benjamin was going with this.

"Now you're _third_,"

"I guess so…"

"And you're okay with that?!" Benjamin was surprised at Dameon's lack of concern.

Dameon looked from side to side cautiously, and asked, "Am I supposed to be mad or something?"

"Just think of it, Dameon Larsen-the THIRD hottest guy at school. Wouldn't 'second-hottest-guy' sound better?"

"Well, sure. We can't all get what we want," Dameon shrugged.

"Oh yes we can…Dameon I have a proposition for you," Benjamin said most business-like.

Dameon inclined his head slowly to hear it.

"We are going to get Todd into trouble. The kid always was easy to blackmail or even blame. We'll get him kicked out and then we can be the top two hottest guys again,"

Dameon rubbed his chin, "But Benjamin, Todd doesn't deserve to be kicked out, he's a good guy, I mean look what he did this morning. He just showed up and everyone was good again…"

"Yeah, yeah, but you know what I saw? I saw Rondi, Jenny, Joy, Maurecia, and Allison giving him googley eyes. I mean You've gotten looks like that from maybe Rondi or Jenny, and I have gotten looks like that from maybe Joy and Maurecia, but Daemon, _Allison Ashworth _has given that look to Todd. How do you feel about that?"

So Dameon thought about it. He was never one to be envious but Allison was the prettiest girl and she never gave looks to anyone. It wasn't fair that Todd got a look from her.

"Well it's not fair,"

"Exactly! Now how about it? Will you join me in my plan to get rid of Todd?" Benjamin asked holding out his hand to make a deal with the now third-hottest guy in school.

"I can't really resist your dark broodiness," Dameon admitted and shook.

"I know," Benjamin smiled.

They dressed into their gym clothes.

Todd was in their gym class ironically.

So was Mac.

But that was all for former Waysidians.

Benjamin wasn't sure if Todd there was good or bad. Gym class allowed many opportunities to get Todd into trouble, but how could Benjamin plot with Dameon?

Mac could lift 300 lbs. with his arms and 300 with his legs. Mac wasn't a Nancy-boy…well his first name WAS Nancy. To his horror he realized that when he traded names with the girl named Mac, it was void as soon as he stepped foot into junior high. Therefore he intimidated with his brute strength. Everyone formerly from Wayside knew him by 'Mac' though. That's what mattered.

Dameon was using the leg-crunching machine to work his leg muscles. He was a track star, he had to tone them up often. He found out he was perfect for running track and cross country what with Mrs. Jewels sending him running up and down thirty stories most of his elementary career. Benjamin decided to lift weights with 150 disks. Mac was just lifting everything. They saw Todd walk in. Todd wasn't built like Mac, he didn't even seem big enough for football. Todd was lean but not scrawny.

Todd stood by the treadmill, pondering whether to use it.

Benjamin snickered at himself, Todd looked so wimpy, he doubted if Todd could lift anything over 120 lbs.

"Heeeeey Todd!" Mac shouted when he put a large object down and spotted his old friend.

"Hey!" Todd smiled and left the treadmill.

"So you ready to lift?" Mac asked.

"Sure, but what?" Todd asked, seeing all other machines besides the treadmill were being used.

"Man, one time I lifted three of those guys at once, I didn't even break a sweat…." Mac went into one of his pointless, exaggerating stories.

Benjamin thought it would be a good time to make Todd look foolish so he said "Give him a 300 disk!"

Mac could easily lift the 300 lb disk so he picked it up while still chattering about and tossed it to Todd. Todd stepped out of the way so he wouldn't be hit. Benjamin keeled over with laughter.

"What's so funny Nushmutt?" Todd asked with a grin as he stood over Benjamin holding the 300 lb. disk under his arm.

Benjamin was shocked, how could such a scrawny kid lift it?

"How did you lift that?" Benjamin demanded to know.

"Well five and a half years of boot camp really makes you strong." Todd explained and dropped the disk on Benjamin's lap. He wasn't ready for it and yelped in pain.

The rest of the gym class laughed. Benjamin turned orange with embarrassment. That made the guys laugh more. They never understood why the 'weird' kids had odd face colors when emotional.

One time, Dana, who happened to be in the school P.E.T.A. organization found a dead bird in the parking lot and started crying until her face was neon pink. They laughed at her.

"Ouch! Dude, you could have killed me!" Benjamin said in a slightly high-pitched tone and shoved the disk off his lap.

"Gee, I'm sorry Benjamin. I thought everyone could lift these disks," Todd said and picked the disk up.

The guys laughed hard, all except Daemon. Daemon was worried about Benjamin's plan. Todd had told them all that he could not get caught anymore. Maybe Benjamin hadn't heard.

"You alright?" Daemon asked from his leg cruncher.

Benjamin glared in a dark and broody way for an answer. Dameon shrugged and kept crunching his calf muscles.

"So then I leaped over one of those gymnastic bars because she had fallen off the pyramid…" Mac kept on going, now on some other topic. Todd listened politely, not knowing exactly what Mac was talking about. It had to do with pyramids.

"Who fell off?"

"Rondi did."

"Rondi is a pharaoh?"

Mac thought about it, "No, a cheerleader."

"Rondi is a cheerleader?"

"Only because Allison is."

"Allison is a cheerleader?"

"The varsity captain."

"Cheerleaders have varsity captains??" Todd was puzzled.

"I think so, Allison is one, so it's possible." Mac concluded.

Todd raised the 300 lb. disk over his head and looked over at Daemon and Benjamin who were talking in low voices conspicuously. Nothing seemed out of place there.

"Anyway so I was going to try and help her but she screamed at me, she screamed "YOU are TOO weird!"

"Are you weird?"

"No, she was."

"How was Rondi weird?"

"She had a gap between her teeth,"

"But that was when she was ten years old," Todd reminded him.

"Yeah but still, she hurt my feelings so I went away," Mac sighed and lifted another weight.

"Was it to a dark corner?" Todd said nostalgically.

"No but I did write a poem about it. It goes…_Rondi, oh sweet Rondi, you are a blondie. I was gonna save you…but you called me weird._"

"Bravo," Todd golf-clapped and lifted another disk.

Suddenly the fire alarm went off.

Everyone let their weights drop and ran outside where it was ninety-nine percent fire-free.

"What's happening!?" Someone asked

"Where's the fire?" Another student wondered.

The coach stomped out with an angry face "Someone pulled the fire alarm! That is a state offense! Now which one of you punks did it?!"

No one 'fessed up.

"If I don't get an answer you are ALL giving me 500 push-ups!!"

"Todd did it!" Benjamin shouted and pointed at the scrawny kid in blue gym shorts, a sleeveless t-shirt, with Chuck Taylor All Star shoes on his feet.

"Dude you're pointing at a guy named 'Lenny'," Dameon nudged Benjamin. Benjamin blinked and found Dameon was right. Todd was standing next to the so-called 'Lenny'. Benjamin adjusted his pointing so it was on Todd, "as I was saying…Todd did it!"

"That's not true!" Mac stepped in, "I know, I was talking to him the whole time. And man, we were discussing some pretty cool stuff about Pharaohs…"

"Enough! Nushmutt you go to detention for lying, Nancy you go to detention for wasting class time by starting a worthless tale, and the rest of you give me 500 push-ups!"

"I don't think Todd can get caught anymore," Dameon whispered as Benjamin trudged to detention while Mac followed him going on and on about a brave firefighter who always showed up to false alarms. Benjamin looked sore but not defeated. Dameon was on his 100th push-up after three minutes and felt pretty good at it but his arms almost gave way as he looked up and saw that Todd was already done! Benjamin Nushmutt had his work cut out for him.


	5. Dark and broody

Mac hadn't gotten any detentions before. He just couldn't help himself, when he thought of a story it had to spill from his mouth and it could always keep going and going…kind of like the battery bunny on TV. He stopped telling stories after he went to junior high. No one would have appreciated them anyway. Now Todd was back. Now everybody was themselves again. He happily picked up his after-school lunch detention slip. It was pink…kind of like the battery bunny on TV. He'd have to thank Todd later for restoring his will to tell stories again.

Benjamin was right behind Mac in the two-person line to get his pink detention slip from the gym office. He was not happy.

"Why so glum?" Mac asked.

"I shouldn't be here, Todd should," he grumbled.

"Todd didn't pull the fire alarm,"

"So?"

Mac gasped and pointed at Benjamin, "_You_ pulled it??"

"No."

"Well who did?"

"I don't know. It must have been someone outside of the gym because no one was near the one on the inside," Benjamin said.

Mac had to rub his chin in thought about it. Benjamin told him to stop because it looked silly.

Benjamin then focused on how to get Todd to go home early. There was no Mrs. Jewels to write his name on the blackboard three times like when they were at Wayside. Benjamin rubbed his chin in thought because he could pull it off with his dark broodiness. Mac walked out of the front office, thinking he was glad he wasn't dark and broody, even if he could rub his chin in thought and get away with it.

After Gym, Dameon went to the office too, but for a different reason. He was an office aid. It was an easy credit, all he had to do was gather attendance slips and then write down who was missing.

Todd had been missing for five years but he saw that Todd had made it to his next class. Benjamin had told him that Todd was the hottest guy in school. Dameon wasn't particularly bothered about being third hottest guy in school, but he was a loyal friend. Benjamin would not be able to get Todd in trouble.

When the secretary left to get more coffee, Dameon snuck behind the desk and opened a file cabinet. He found the file that read, '_Gavinser, Todd A.'_

Todd had transferred from Sergeant Boot's Military Academy. His middle name was 'Archimedes.' Was that dirt enough? Todd could only get made fun of, not kicked out with a middle name like that. Dameon saw Todd's class schedule and his locker combination card. He slipped the card into his pocket and put the file back. Benjamin could find a use for such an informational card. First, he had to get to the detention room, which was easy because he was an office aid.

The secretary came back with a cuppa joe and Dameon told her he was taking something important to the detention room. She didn't question because she was grumpy without her daily gallon of caffeine.

The hallways were quiet. Too quiet.

"Dameon, why are you looking so shady?" Allison said from behind him. He jumped away and stared at the pretty varsity captain of the cheerleading squad.

"Well, uhm, I'm…not shady at all," he burbled.

Allison shook her glossy blonde hair doubtfully, "Uh huh, if I didn't know any better, which I don't, I'd say you are looking shady."

"Right, and since you don't know any better, I'm not looking shady," he half-smiled. The half-smile made him look half-shady.

"Fair enough. I'll see you around," she said.

Dameon watched her walk away. Her hips had a swing to them that no male could resist watching. He shook his head and continued on his shady mission.

Benjamin was using a pen to carve into the wooden desk he was sitting at. How did he become so dark and broody? It started when he reached middle school and saw how weird everyone was. Benjamin had always been the normal kid at Wayside, one of the few at least. When he saw that he had no more friends he went to the library and read books. He read stories that were dark, like Stephen King's _The Shining_. He read stories that were broody, like Edgar Allen Poe's, _The Raven_. They were delightfully dark and broody stories. So Benjamin decided to be a delightfully dark and broody boy.

Mac was about to explode from all the worthless stories he wasn't telling. There was a knock on the door and Benjamin was surprised to see his partner in operation-get-rid-of-Todd.

He told the detention teacher that he had something to deliver to Benjamin Nushmutt personally. Dameon nodded and set a card on the desk in front of Benjamin. He left.

Benjamin curiously flipped it over and found he was smiling. This was the key to finding something to get rid of Todd. Once Todd was gone, he could become the hottest guy in school again and poor Dameon would be bumped back to second.


	6. Cuteness over anger

It was a little awkward. Calvin was flexing his arm muscles so that Bebe could draw them.

"Gunn draws the guns!" Calvin proclaimed.

"Don't move!" Bebe chided and feverishly outlined and shaded Calvin's arm.

"You know I'm going to have to wash that off tonight," he reminded her. She stopped and looked up at him with pleading brown eyes, "But…it's a work of art!"

"Charcoal feels weird," he stopped flexing and wiped some of the black powder off his arm.

"Ohhh, some assistant you are!" she flung up her arms dramatically.

"Pipe down, you clown!" Terrance growled as he walked by, upset about something.

"What is his deal?" Bebe huffed, offended.

"He probably lost,"

"He hates to loose," she nodded.

"I wonder what he lost?"

"I hope he finds it, whatever it is," she said, took out her notepad and began to sketch whatever was in her head.

Terrance was out on the field, practicing his pitch. He was pitcher for the high school's baseball team. He also had a temper, which made him seem mean. He liked to insult his classmates and usually in rhyme.

He was angry because he had just found out that they were going to let some other teammate pitch the next game, one of the biggest games of the season! He threw fastball after fastball. He threw a slow ball to catch his breath, and then pitched another fastball that knocked the slow ball out of the air. He had crazy arms! He pitched but the ball went behind him. It didn't hit the ground though. There was a soft _Thwack!_

"Having fun?" a girl's voice asked.

"Don't you have someone else to annoy, Tom Boy?' he scrunched his eyes closed in irritation. He wanted to pitch in solitude. A baseball mitt hit him in the shoulder. In the baseball mitt there was a hand, that hand was at the end of an arm, the arm started off a shoulder, the shoulder became a long neck, and the neck supported a head. It's a good thing he took anatomy or else he might have skipped the collarbone.

The head, however, was of a girl his age with plain, short brown hair with a bandana tied over it. She had a mousy nose and regular features. This girl however didn't need to be the prettiest because she was the Volleyball, Softball, Girl's soccer, and girl's basketball MVP. She also had tried to get onto the guy's football team but wasn't allowed. She loved sports with a fury. She was Deborah Barns. Also commonly known as 'Dee Dee'.

"I heard what coach did," she said.

"So?" Terrance snapped.

"Seems like your pitching is a little rusty," she dared to say

Terrance became infuriated, "Take a hike, dyke!"

Dee Dee wasn't phased, everyone knew she was straight but she didn't like those kinds of words being thrown around. So she caught them.

"Tell you what, I will leave you alone if you can pitch me a good one that I can't hit," she took a bat out of the sports bin by the bleachers and poised herself over home base. Terrance smirked, full of himself.

He picked up a baseball and pitched it as hard as he could. Dee Dee sent it flying. He glared at her for winning.

She clicked her tongue, "No wonder coach replaced you."

"You think you're so great?"

"No, do you?"

Terrance threw down his glove. He was one disturbed kid. He stormed off back in the direction of the school. Dee Dee followed him. If he knew, he didn't seem to care. Allison and Rondi were at their lockers chatting about makeup. Dana was nearby and looked confused at their conversation. Make up was something Dana didn't understand. Why couldn't a girl be pretty without it?

Terrance marched past the girls and accidentally bumped Rondi's books out of her arms.

He kept walking.

"_What a Jerk-wad"_ Dee Dee frowned in her thoughts.

"Uh…Hel-lo! You just knocked my books out of my hands!" Rondi waved with a cute, annoyed huff. Everything was cute about Rondi. Rondi had curly blonde hair pulled into a ponytail, with barrettes holding back her bangs. She had an adorable giggle, and plus, she had been a pharaoh once for Halloween. A pharaoh of cuteness.

Terrance stopped and stood in front of her.

"Yeah, so? I'll knock your teeth out too if you still want me too."

Allison raised her eyebrows.

Rondi wasn't smiling anymore, perhaps to protect her adorable pearly whites. Terrance was one of the taller boys and had a lot of muscle from playing sports. Rondi was completely in his shadow. She wasn't scared of him though. She could do a back flip and kick him in his jaw if she wanted to. After all, she was on the cheerleading squad. Only because Allison was though.

"Pick them up," she demanded.

"You must really want me to knock your teeth out," Terrance balled his fist.

Dee Dee couldn't let Terrance destroy anything cute about Rondi so she intervened. "If you punch her, you'll get thrown off the team."

Terrance glared at Dee Dee once more, bent down and picked up Rondi's books.

"There," he shoved them at her and turned around.

"Thank you, Terrance," she said, in a very adorable and sincere voice. She could have meant 'thank you for picking up my books' or 'thank you for not punching anything adorable.' He didn't know but he stopped and said "You're welcome, Rondi," without looking at her.

Dee Dee saw something. You had to be quick to witness it. Allison and Rondi didn't see it because Terrance had his back to them. His frown had gone away when he said '_You're welcome, Rondi.'_

Suddenly Dee Dee had a theory to why Terrance Keats' pitching had been going down hill. He was distracted. He must have loved Rondi and it was driving him angry that he couldn't do anything about it. Some people say that it's not their fault they fall in love. Dee Dee suspected Terrance was one of those people.


	7. Makeup menace

Dana looked at the mirror that was in the girl's bathroom. The Dana on the other side was looking back. Dana used to be the prettiest girl because she wore glasses and had two beautiful eyes. With the glasses, she had four beautiful eyes. Now a day it was hard to keep ahead on the beauty scale. In grade school, little girls aren't allowed to wear make-up. In high school, all the girls wear make-up.

Dana swore to be enemies with the make-up. When the make-up was on every other girl at school, Dana became the ugliest.

"Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is the ugliest one of all?" She asked her reflection by pointing at it. Her reflection pointed back at her.

"Et tu, reflection?" she cried and grabbed her backpack, running out of the bathroom where she knocked into John Calhoun. Her glasses were knocked crooked.

"Watch it four eyes!" he laughed.

Dana adjusted her glasses and cried out again, tearing down the hallway like a lunatic.

"What's her problem?" John asked Joe, his best friend.

"If it's a math problem, I could solve it," said Joe.

"I think it has to do with make-up," Rondi approached adorably after listening to their conversation.

"What about make-up?" John stuck out his tongue with disgust. He would never wear make-up.

"I think Dana doesn't know how to put it on," she shrugged.

"But she's in high school," Joe noted, like somehow being in high school, a girl was supposed to know automatically how to use it.

They heard a locker bang and looked to see Benjamin slinking away most suspiciously. Nushmutt was dark and broody so they didn't suspect anything. Rondi saw Allison and left the guys to catch up with her.

"Hey I got it, I'll make a bet!" Joe said.

"What about and why?" John asked, befuddled.

"High schoolers are always making bets in the movies, and I've calculated the odds in my favor of this one."

"Okay, shoot."

"I bet that you can't get Dana to put make-up on," Joe said.

"You will lose a bet like that," John was certain.

"The loser has to take Dana to prom, with or without make up,"

"I don't want to take Dana Rivers to prom, she has four eyes and doesn't wear make up!"

"That's why the odds are in my favor," Joe smiled and nodded, shaking his curls, all fifty-five thousand and six of them.

Dana was sitting in the room of her last class. She was ugly; her own reflection had betrayed her! Then John called her four-eyes! John was handsome, in a football player way. The only thing good to come out of the day was Todd showing up again. Todd was cute- he had the best smile. Rondi and Allison had confused her by talking about eye shadow palettes. Allison was queen beautiful and Rondi was the princess of all adorable. Dana thought about all her old classmates and even Kathy was prettier than her, in a dark, mean seductress manner of sorts though.

Dana was smart and was the president of the high school P.E.T.A club. How could she even let the shallow peer pressure of high school get to her like this? She should have been worrying more about the cruelty animals were going through.

She had to stop thinking and write a preposition on the chalkboard. Class had started and she didn't even notice. She wrote _under_ on the board and sat back down. A note was handed to her.

"_Do you know how to put on make-up?"_

She looked up and around the room instantly. More torment from the dreadful make-up? No! She had to put an end to it. She froze though when she saw John, his eyebrows raised in question, waiting for a nod or a headshake in response. Instead, Dana held up the note and ripped it down the middle. That's what she thought of make-up.


	8. Shop class full of sass

_Damn it. Damn it. Damn it! _ Kathy screamed in her head. She lifted her protective goggles off her face and glared at the drill in her hand. Another stripped screw in her wood project. She tore off the goggles and threw them behind her. Who needed them? They smelled funny anyway.

"Ow! You hit me!" a kid in the class whined.

"Walk it off," she said, not looking at the kid, but her miserable wood project. She was supposed to be making a shelf, but it looked more like a…well there wasn't a resemblance really.

The only reason Kathy liked the class was because she got to use power tools.

"Kathy, you dropped your goggles," DJ held them out. He knew she didn't 'drop' them. In fact, they hit the guy across from him at his worktable in the back of the head.

Kathy groaned. DJ was only in the class to annoy her, or so she presumed. DJ in fact, had a passion for whittling.

"Why don't you mind your own business, dumb jerk?" she snatched them back but didn't put them on again.

"Having trouble with your project?" He looked over her shoulder.

"You must be deaf," Kathy pushed his head out of her way. "Just go do your own ugly thing."

"I'm done," he smiled. He had a big, friendly smile.

Kathy saw his project, an actual shelf, and glared. She had a big, angry glare.

"Quit bragging," was all she could come up with.

She was the only girl in the whole class. That wasn't a big deal. Kathy was not a big deal as far as girls went, within the high school.

Allison was the biggest deal, as far as anyone went, within the high school.

"I could help you get those out," DJ nodded at the stripped screws. The screws were considered 'stripped' if their point was grinded down enough that they couldn't be used.

"Be my guest," Kathy growled and tossed him the drill. She liked it when she had less work to do, so she grabbed a power tool magazine to flip through.

DJ caught the drill and wasn't phased at her rudeness. She had always treated people that way. Disrespect. Kathy did not respect anyone unless they were as mean and ruthless as her or worse. DJ could only think of the dead rat, Sammy, which disguised itself in a raincoat and infiltrated the classroom at Wayside as a student. That was the only other living…no, not even living, it was the only _thing_ ever that Kathy respected.

He concentrated on reverse drilling; every so often he would rub the stubble on his chin to look thoughtful. Not many kids could pull of rubbing their chin and looking thoughtful. Benjamin Nushmutt was a pro at it…that, and looking dark and broody.

"You done yet?" Kathy barked impatiently, like _he_ was wasting _her_ time.

"Almost," He replied cheerfully, even though he knew she wouldn't thank him.

"Hurry up, will ya? Class is almost over."

He got the last drill out and the wooden panels of the shelves fell apart.

Kathy threw the magazine at him and shouted, "Now look at what you did!"

DJ apologized even though she knew that would happen when he took out all the stripped screws. The last bell of the day rang and they all could go home.

DJ liked to whittle. He had just finished one of a skunk, and it was his favorite because he put a lot of detail into it. He was looking at it while it was in his backpack.

Kathy marched passed him with an unpleasant growl. She was thinking about how much more work she had to do the next day because of the dumb jerk who took out all her screws. A hand landed on her shoulder.

"Get your grease paws off me!" she shouted automatically and jumped to turn around.

"I just wanted to make up for what I did earlier," DJ said sincerely.

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do?" Kathy sniffed and tossed her hair.

"Here," he held out his whittled skunk to her, "I worked a long time on it, and it's my favorite. I remembered you had a pet skunk so I thought I'd give it to you."

Kathy looked at with a blank expression. She snatched it out of his hand and examined it.

DJ smiled big, hoping she liked it.

She did like it. Then she saw his huge smile and eyes of hope. There was something she liked more though.

"Why would I want a stinky ol' skunk?" she frowned and tossed it into the bushes.

She loved to crush people's hopes and happiness, more than anything.

DJ usually never let Kathy, of all people to get him down. He told himself that she would grow out of it someday. He reasoned that if someone were nice to her, then maybe she would be nice too. Everyone from Wayside had given up being nice to Kathy long ago, and it didn't matter if Todd came back because Kathy would never change for the better. That day, DJ snapped.

His smile fell, which was Kathy's goal as resident happiness-Nazi. Instead of being sad, which was another goal Kathy aimed for when she stomped out people's hopes, D.J's mood changed to something else.

He grabbed her backpack, despite her calling him 'grease paws', and threw it into the bushes as well. He stomped off and not without calling her some colorful words. At least now, according to his theory, she would respect him.

Kathy was shocked. DJ was never rude, had never been rude in his life. His parents taught him well. She was starting to respect him, as she crawled through the bushes to find her backpack and thinking: _Ugh, extra work to do._

She came upon the little wooden skunk that DJ had whittled. It did remind her of 'Gross', the pet skunk she used to have. He ran away like her first cat though not too long after Mrs. Jewel's 'bring your pet day'. Although Sharie thought the day was exclusively for her pet turtle, 'Yorpet' as 'bring Yorpet day.'

A feeling crept up on Kathy then. Sadness. Why? Was she feeling sympathetic? No, Kathy Wilkins was _never_ sympathetic. Yet, she felt a sort of regret when she looked at the wooden skunk. It was for her. He made it for her, and she tossed it aside as if it didn't matter.

So she picked it up and put it in her jacket pocket, then considered for the first time in her life to ease up on Donald Jacob Strong.


End file.
